Man fakes death to pocket `30 lakh insurance amount

It was a classic case of 'Dead man Walking' when the crime branch laid its hands on a person who claimed to have died in 2014 in Haryana's Jhajjar. However, on the investigation, it was revealed that he merely died on 'paper' to claim a Rs 30 lakh insurance policy. The crime branch has unearthed the racket which had developed an expertise in preparing fake death certificates and claiming the amount from insurance companies in connivance with Policy Agents and the claimants. Two people have been arrested in this connection, One dead on paper (claimant) and one alive (policy agent).

Secret inputs were received by the crime branch team that a number of people in collusion with policy agents were claiming hefty amounts on the basis of forged death certificates and other relevant documents. Under-cover crime branch officers then visited and monitored several policy agents and policy holders. The investigation revealed that an agent identified as Prahlad Agarwal was involved in preparing all the forged documents (like death certificate and even PAN card) in the name of living people with a motive to claim the huge amount from insurance companies.

"Our teams raided Laxmi Nagar and several other places in Trans Yamuna area. It was then that a certain Dinesh Gupta was arrested who interestingly managed to lay his hands on a fake death certificate. The recovered certificate was prepared at the Municipal Office, Jhajjar, Haryana." said Madhur Verma, DCP Crime branch.

Moreover, during the investigation, it was also found that the agent Prahlad Agarwal was keeping all relevant documents in his own possession instead of the claimant.

"A sum Rs 30 lakh was all set to be claimed on the basis of the forged death certificate at Office of AVIVA Life insurance. If our team had not made these arrests in the nick of time the accused would have managed to corner that hefty sum," said Sanjay Sehrawat, ACP Crime.

During the course of the investigation, it was also revealed that some fake bank accounts in the name of dead people had been opened by Prahlad Agarwal, who himself work as a policy agent along with his wife to facilitate the claims and to withdraw the money from those accounts. Cops suspect that much more could be involved in the racket both the living and 'dead'.